Maybe you can tell us how many bases China, Russia or Sweden has around the world Peter.

I would very much doubt that China has many, if any at all.

We know that a few years ago Russia withdrew from the thousands they did have in other countries, purely because Russia could no longer afford to keep them and their "host" countries were no longer governed by regimes that would condone the presence of the occupying power.

Sweden I would think have none as they are neutral and have been, by and large, since the latter part of the 17th Century.

Interesting selection of countries Peter, why leave out France (the number would surprise you).

The perspective Peter is that the US is currently the foremost military power on earth. Apart from commitments to it's own defence it is the pivotal member of NATO and has numerous bilateral agreements and treaties with other nations with regard to defence of those nations. All of those require an established US presence. For every one base that the US has abroad, there are nine in the US. With 702 bases spread over 130 countries that would average out at six "bases" per country, of course that is not how it is, in some countries the "base" is no more than an office, in others (e.g. Germany) they are vast complexes and quite numerous. The bases in Germany are examples of bases that are a hang-over from the Second World War and from the ensuing "cold war", as are the US bases in the UK. In exchange for 50 destroyers during the early part of the Second World War the US was given leasehold for 99 years on bases on UK territories. The perpective Peter is that in the vast majority of places where there arte US bases these are there with the agreement of the governments of those countries. The USSR planted itself throughout eastern Europe not giving a fig for the wishes of the government or people of the country they were occupying, the likes of Mr. Pinter, and obviously yourself, conveniently forget that - if you have any doubts take a trip to Latvia, Estonia or Lithuania and ask the locals. While Pinter shouts from the roof tops about US/UK "crimes" against humanity - no a single bloody whisper with regard to the millions killed by the Soviets and the regimes that they supported.